NEW YORK (Reuters) – J.C. Penney Co Inc reached a tentative deal with landlords and lenders valued at $1.75 billion to rescue the beleaguered department store chain from bankruptcy proceedings, averting a liquidation that would have threatened roughly 70,000 jobs and represented one of the most significant business collapses following the coronavirus pandemic, a company lawyer said.
Mall owners Simon Property Group Inc and Brookfield Property Partners LP have teamed up to acquire J.C. Penney’s retail operations and are putting the finishing touches on an agreement, Joshua Sussberg, a Kirkland & Ellis LLP lawyer representing the company, said during a brief court hearing Wednesday, confirming an earlier Reuters report.
The landlords are poised to put $300 million toward the rescue and have agreed to a nonbinding letter of intent with J.C. Penney, he said. The operating company they are acquiring would assume $500 million of debt. Read more…..
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As of April 2020, J.C. Penney saw its shares trading well below $1, and it has long been in danger of being delisted by the New York Stock Exchange. The fate of the company now rests in the hands of its new CEO, Jill Soltau, who took the reins in October 2018. Soltau plans to revitalize the retailer and bring it back to its roots by focusing on customer service, apparel, and low prices.
